The International Committee of the Red Cross said it had flown seven children from Khartoum to South Sudan on Tuesday to reunite them with their parents after years apart. The flight to Juba marked the ICRC's first cross-border reunification of children since South Sudan became the world's newest country last year, the aid agency said in a statement.
"This trip marks the beginning of a new life for these children," said Baptiste Jacobe De Naurois, the ICRC delegate who accompanied them on the flight. The children, aged eight to 16, had been living in a child-care centre in the Sudanese capital, some for several years, ICRC spokesman Jean-Yves Clemenzo told AFP.
The organisation had worked closely with the South Sudan Red Cross to locate the children's families, he said, adding that finding the parents had been a difficult task in a country with very little infrastructure. "It takes a lot of time... It's a long process," he said, adding that during the rainy season especially many remote areas of South Sudan were impossible to get to.
Once the families had been located, there was still a lot of work to be done to obtain travel documents and especially to ensure that they were indeed the parents, that they wanted their children back and that their children wanted to go. "We have to be very careful, because they are children," Clemenzo said.
Once in Juba, the children were placed in the care of local ICRC staff who are set to take them the rest of the way to their families. The ICRC has been working in Sudan since 1978, and opened a delegation in South Sudan when the country became independent from Sudan in July last year after a peace deal that ended a 22-year civil war.
Newer articles:
- South Sudan to uphold death penalty - Africa Review - 14/11/2012 11:38
- UN worker killed in Sudan, South Sudan disputed region - Chicago Tribune - 14/11/2012 10:51
- SOUTH SUDAN: Contraceptives give women the right to choose - IRINnews.org - 14/11/2012 10:35
- In South Sudan malnutrition and disease are the killers not bullets - The Independent (blog) - 14/11/2012 03:09
- JobsAgronomist - World Vision South Sudan - Reuters AlertNet - 13/11/2012 19:51
Older news items
- South Sudan: New country, new anthem, new flag... new beer - Daily Maverick - 13/11/2012 17:30
- HBO Documentary Films Presents - 'Witness: South Sudan' - Starpulse.com - 13/11/2012 15:09
- Gold fever sweeps South Sudan ahead of new mining law - BusinessWorld Online Edition - 13/11/2012 15:02
- Sudan/South Sudan: first ICRC cross-border family reunification - Tolerance - 13/11/2012 12:46
- Sudan and South Sudan Hold an Estimated Five Billion Barrels of Oil - ValueWalk - 13/11/2012 11:28
Latest news items (all categories):
- South Sudan needs ‘civic education’ before elections, says bishop - 16/01/2025 16:42
- South Sudan parties set to resume peace talks in Kenya - 16/01/2025 16:39
- Abandoned but not forgotten – the invisible crisis in South Sudan - 16/01/2025 16:35
- The SAF has committed barbaric atrocities against South Sudanese refugees in Wad Medani - 16/01/2025 16:27
- Syria 2025: The historical Syrian project: From revolution to a modern inclusive civil state - 16/01/2025 16:10
Random articles (all categories):
- U.S. wants U.N. to blacklist South Sudan's Machar, Malong - 18/11/2016 09:35
- Ukraine, South Sudan share place in Freedom House's press freedom rating - Interfax - 01/05/2012 16:01
- In South Sudan, Catholic hospital to receive new surgical, maternity units - 02/05/2018 03:43
- Veto powers at UN mull arms embargo on South Sudan, call for more peacekeeping troops - 28/07/2016 12:47
- South Sudan: UN Human Rights Council renews mandate of Commission on Human Rights - 24/03/2021 17:49
Popular articles:
- Who is the darkest person in the world, according to Guinness World Record? - 25/10/2022 02:34 - Read 61663 times
- No oil in troubled waters - 25/03/2014 15:02 - Read 22305 times
- School exam results in South Sudan show decline - 01/04/2012 17:58 - Read 21492 times
- NDSU student from South Sudan receives scholarship - In-Forum - 29/09/2012 01:44 - Read 19059 times
- Top 10 weakest currency exchange rates in Africa in 2023 - 19/07/2023 00:24 - Read 18792 times